The home side went on the offensive in the hope of earning a quick reply but Jamie Langfield comfortably held tame efforts by Luis Rubiales and Flavio Paixao, who was joined in the starting line-up by his twin brother Marco.

After Maguire had replaced the injured Darren Mackie, Hamilton twice came close to reducing the deficit from debutant Kyle Wilkie's free-kick.

First, Martin Canning flicked a header against the post and then, as Accies tried to keep the attack alive, Grant Evans' shot was cleared off the line by Considine.

The Dons claimed for a penalty seconds before the half-time whistle after Lee Miller went down in the box under the challenge of Iriekpen but referee Brian Winter waved play on.

A double substitution at the break that saw recent signing Leon Knight and David Louhoungu replace Wilkie and John Paul Kissock gave Hamilton fresh impetus at the start of the second half.

And Accies almost took advantage of uncertainty in the Aberdeen defence when Simon Mensing was presented with a chance but Jamie Langfield was alert to save the snapshot.

Knight then headed wide before, at the other end, 16-year-old Fyvie flashed a shot across Cerny's goal.

Mensing had another chance to find the net when he met Knight's cross but the midfielder's header was high and wide.

But Maguire's superb strike killed off any prospect of Hamilton getting back into the match.

Mulgrew's deep cross picked out the striker on the right-hand side of the box and Maguire belted a diagonal shot into the far corner of the net.

Aberdeen continued to put Hamilton under pressure and may have scored more with Mulgrew and Aluko dragging shots wide of Cerny's goal.

Hamilton Accies manager Billy Reid: "I'm disappointed. I warned them about Aberdeen coming here. Aberdeen have had a

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couple of bad results in Europe and against Celtic so they came here a wounded animal.

"I knew they would be up for it. They started much better than we did. We were second to every ball. They thoroughly deserved their win.

"Goals change games. The free-kick for the first goal, I don't see anything in it at all, I'm amazed. It's changed the whole outlook of the game. It was a fantastic finish and then we were a wee bit all over the place.

"With the chances we've had, we've not really had a break but there's more to it than that, you've got to earn your breaks and, at the moment, we're a wee bit off where we have to be to win games at this level but we realise that.

"There is some pleasing signs in the performance when we've got the ball but in terms of when we don't have the ball, we need to do more.

"All my leaders are not on the park yet. My captain, my vice-captain and my big centre-back are our leaders, they're not on the park yet. Once we get them in, I think you'll see a different Accies."

Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee: "My first observation would be that we worked harder from the start of the game. We established ourselves well in the game in terms of our shape and our work ethic was good, it was better. The three goals were good.

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"We're not going to kid ourselves. We know there's a lot of work to be done, for the players that played today, the ones that were sitting at the side, with the job of bringing in people and with the job of improving things.

"Hamilton had a couple of their better players missing, which has not helped them and therefore it possibly made it a little bit easier for us than it would be on another day.

"Scoring goals and keeping clean sheets and getting three points is great for us at this stage.

"It's good for the supporters as well, there was a great support down here. They were fantastic and they deserve a little bit of a cheer, given the disappointments they've had with the European games and obviously at home last week to Celtic. So, it's a start.

"I thought the young players were terrific. Jonathan did a good, good shift and we weren't disappointed in him. Young Fivey kept going and was terrific, even at the end, mopping things up and playing simple passes."

Live text and stats

Saturday, 22 August 2009

Scottish Premier

Home Team

Score

Away Team

Time

Hamilton

0-3

Aberdeen

FT

(HT 0-2)

Mulgrew 23

Considine 29

Maguire 63

Hamilton

01 Cerny

03 Rubiales

04 Canning

05 Iriekpen

07 Wesolowski

12 Evans

24 Kissock (Knight 46)

27 Mensing

33 Wilkie yellow card (Louhoungu 46)

18 Flavio Paixao yellow card (Lyle 58)

21 Marco Paixao

Substitutes

19 Murdoch,

15 Andrews,

25 Elebert,

14 Louhoungu,

20 Gillepsie,

11 Lyle,

26 Knight

Aberdeen

01 Langfield

02 Mulgrew

03 Foster

06 Considine yellow card

22 Ifil yellow card

25 Crawford (Duff 67)

08 Kerr

11 Aluko

34 Fyvie

09 Miller

10 Mackie yellow card (Maguire 41)

Substitutes

21 Nelson,

14 Young,

16 Duff,

07 Maguire,

24 Paton,

31 Megginson,

33 Hansson

Ref: WinterAtt: 3,347

HAMILTON

ABERDEEN

Possession

Hamilton50%

Aberdeen50%

Attempts on target

Hamilton4

Aberdeen10

Attempts off target

Hamilton6

Aberdeen7

Corners

Hamilton3

Aberdeen3

Fouls

Hamilton16

Aberdeen9

Final Result

90:00+0:38 The referee signals the end of the game.

Full Time

87:27 Cross by Fraser Fyvie (Aberdeen), resulting in ball out of play. Goal kick taken short by Tomas Cerny (Hamilton).

80:02 Shot by Fraser Fyvie (Aberdeen) left-footed from left side of penalty area (12 yards), over the bar. Goal kick taken long
by Tomas Cerny (Hamilton).

79:07 Defending throw-in by Stuart Duff (Aberdeen).

78:36 Cross by Christopher Maguire (Aberdeen), resulting in open play. Goal kick taken long by Tomas Cerny (Hamilton).

77:40 Goal kick taken long by Jamie Langfield (Aberdeen).

76:19 Foul by Christopher Maguire (Aberdeen) on Leon Knight (Hamilton). Free kick taken right-footed by Derek Lyle (Hamilton) from
left wing, resulting in open play. Inswinging corner from right by-line taken left-footed by Luis Rubiales (Hamilton) to centre,
header by Martin Canning (Hamilton) from centre of penalty area (12 yards), missed right.

65:36 Inswinging corner from left by-line taken right-footed by Derek Lyle (Hamilton) to centre, header by Leon Knight (Hamilton)
from right side of penalty area (12 yards), over the bar. Goal kick taken long by Jamie Langfield (Aberdeen).

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